Brother of man in Belltown attack speaks

The Microsoft employee attacked in Belltown early Sunday morning was taken out of intensive care Tuesday and is progressing faster than doctors initially expected, his brother said.

A witness told police that he saw Dan Stoy, 29, confronted by five or six men shortly before 2 a.m., according to a report. One of them punched him, and he collapsed. Stoy, who was traveling from Fargo, N.D., for a company conference, was given CPR by a witnesses and rushed to Harborview Medical Center, police said.

“They didn’t expect him to recover consciousness for at least 24 hours, maybe more,” his brother, Sean Stoy, said. But he was verbally responding to people after 10 hours.

Stoy said his older brother is “certainly going to make it.”

“But he has a horrible headache and doesn’t really have conversations with anyone, presumably because of the pain,” Stoy said. “He hasn’t really gotten up out of bed. He hasn’t watched TV.”

“Hopefully that will help us narrow down the scope of the suspects that are involved,” she said, adding police hope to release a better suspect description this week. “Detectives are trying to reach out to any witnesses.”

Stoy’s recovery is expected to take one or two years. He also has two brain contusions “contributing to his fogginess,” his brother said.

Another of the witnesses at the scene Sunday told police that he say Stoy “wrestling” with the man who punched him, according to the police report.

Family said Stoy’s parents, who flew to be with their son at Harborview, were told he was in a fight.

Sean Stoy, a student at the University of Colorado-Denver, said his family has doubts about that account – or that this case will bring about major change.

“When six people surround you, and you get hit, I don’t really think that’s a fight,” he said. “It seems like a pretty motivated strike to break somebody’s skull twice.

“We certainly hope they are caught. But how much hope can you have in a random attack on someone from out of state?”